The Conspiracy of the Elites

As gladiators who qualified to be brought to the outer headquarters of the Seafarers alliance, Clark’s group was entitled to a certain amount of money for the duration they fought for the Roman empire organization.

From this money entitlement they had, Mark hired a car for a day so they could enjoy their day without looking for an alternative means of transportation.

Clark volunteered to be the team’s driver for the day. No one objected, so he got the chance to drive his first-ever electric car. The feeling was novel to him, as he relished on the opportunity given to him.

As soon as they left their team compound, he carried his teammates in the car as he sped down, moving straight to the highway. Arthur was still undecided, so he had no direction, he was just driving as his spirit led him.

They all admired the huge buildings as their vice-captain drove them aimlessly around. On reaching the highway, the massively interconnected bridges, the smooth tiled road and the gold-coated road for special Seafarers with status painted the scenery in an extremely beautiful light.

…

After driving for some minutes, their car slowed down as the traffic gradually increased. Clark decided to take the group to town, as there would be more places to visit there.

Their car entering the town hardly steered any waves, as everyone went at his/her own business. As they drove forward, an advertisement screen was suddenly projected up in the sky.

On seeing what was depicted there, Clark’s attention was completely drawn to the image and its written description. It was a virtual battle contest between mech pilots.

This time, not only him, practically everyone in the car had expressions of desire on their faces. And coincidentally, the contest was starting 30 minutes later, making them heave a sigh of relief for not getting here at a later time.

After waiting and hoping for some minutes, but not hearing a confirmation yet. Everyone’s eyes narrowed, as they turned to glare at Arthur, the decision-maker.

“We gave you the authority to choose where we’ll go. But that does not mean you can just ignore everyone, right?” On seeing the expression on his teammate’s faces, Arthur knew that he didn’t have any right to make a contrary decision again.

“Fuck, I didn’t ask to be the one to choose either”. He could not help but curse his shameless teammates inwardly. It was not like he didn’t like such contests; it was just that he didn’t feel compelled to watch it.

“Hmmm…, I love this contest. Let’s go there, I want to watch it,” he finally said, while secretly gritting his teeth.

“Hahaha, we knew you’ll like it. You know you are the boss now, so we were just waiting for your approval”. His teammates quickly commented with a laugh to restore the previous positive mood.

His eyes twitched fiercely as he felt an urge to just punch these guys. He forcibly suppressed his feelings, as Clark drove them to the mech stadium.

…

Organizations started dabbling more into neural interfaces during the early start of the age of exotics and technology. A lot of technological gadgets were developed then, that a human can interface with through a neural network.

When the great battle of supremacy finally broke out, countless organizations decided to go deeper into the neural path. Due to a lot of success achieved in past neural experiments, the idea of building mechs that a human can pilot through a neural interface sprouted.

Unfortunately, the human brain was too fragile to bear the load of mentally piloting a mech. After some further experiments, some organizations speculated that only high-grade soldiers could interface with a mech.

Well, this idea was wrong, as it caused the downfall of a lot of powerful countries and organizations. After losing a lot of high-grade soldiers to this dreadful experiment, those organizations finally stopped. But it was already too late, as the big 5 emerged, tyrannically taking 5 spots as the winner of the great war.

Since then, experiments on neural interfaces have been stopped. But the allure was still there, as mechs were simply machines of mass destruction. After trying countless times without results, mech piloting was finally relegated to only virtual piloting.

Clark finally drove to the huge mech stadium, after over 15 minutes of being on the road. The stadium was already almost filled with spectators. The 5 teammates came down out of their hired vehicle, as they walked into the stadium.

They discovered that their calculation was wrong, as the mech pilots were already in the virtual arena. The contest started 6 minutes ago; the delay was just a result of the commentators’ efforts to hype the battle.

Mark led the way, as the group of 5 quickly located a seat in the tightly packed stadium. They finally had the time to concentrate on the 4 mechs that were being projected in the middle of the stadium.

The 2 teams competing in this tournament were The whalers and The star hunters. The mech pilots were already in the cockpit, so only the formidable-looking frames of the mechs were in view.

The whalers fielded a swordsman mech and a rifleman mech. The whalers captain, The spirogyra was the one piloting the swordsman mech. The opposing team fielded a knight mech and a lancer mech.

The spirogyra was clearly a famous mech pilot, as the spectator stands were already shaking from the chants being directed at him. There was no exchange of pleasantries nor greetings as the battle kickstarted decisively.

Boom!! The lancer mech from the opposing team moved first, as it charged forward swiftly with its lance pointed forward. The swordsman mech of The Spirogyra advanced also without hesitation, moving forward to intercept its opponent mech.

Bam!! Bam!! Bam!! The progression of the battle was so fast-paced, as the rifleman mech started releasing thick laser beams from his formidable-looking laser rifle.

It was still less than a minute, but the exchange between both teams was already much. The sight of such enormous war machines, releasing fire and charging at each other was so epic that Clark already started feeling goosebumps.

The lancer mech finally arrived, as its lance struck forward at its opponent’s mech. The momentum it already built from its charge made its weapon look even more intimidating as it glinted red from the friction of the air, but his opponent had a famous reputation for a reason.

The spirogyra’s mech dodged fast to the side, as its sword stabbed from the side forcefully. His opponent reacted fast also, as he adjusted the trajectory of his mech’s lance.

Boom!! The sound of the 2-weapons colliding felt like the sound of thunder, as the swordsman mech recovered quickly. Despite still staggering back from the force of its opponent’s charge, its sword stuck forward, aiming at its opponent’s vulnerable outstretched arm.

Boom!! The lancer mech reacted fast but was still hit as laser beams pelted its armor, destabilizing its stance. The swordsman mech took hold of this opportunity, as it stabilized its staggering steps before unleashing a fierce counterattack at its opponent.

Lancer mechs are not completely melee-oriented mechs either. Coupled with this disadvantage, the mech quickly started stacking damages as damage reports were continuously sent to the mech pilot’s brain.

Its teammate finally arrived, as its towering shield bashed forward at its opponent. The swordsman mech reacted fast, as it quickly withdrew. As it drew back, it suddenly jumped to the side.

Boom!! A highly condensed laser beam suddenly flashed forward, striking the knight mech on its legs. The mech staggered disorderly, as its left leg directly became scrap metal from that charged laser shot.

Bam!! Bam!! The spirogyra already expected this, as his mech struck at its opponent's staggering mech swiftly. Before the knight mech pilot could react, his opponent’s sword suddenly stabbed at his mech’s cockpit through a small opening his staggering created.

Ding!! The unique sound to indicate an eliminated mech suddenly sounded, as the knight mech disappeared from the battlefield. It practically came just to fill the 2nd place spot for its team, as it was eliminated the minute it engaged in battle.

On seeing this, the already advancing lancer mech quickly stabbed at the bent swordsman mech to gamble for a quick desperate elimination.

Its gamble failed, as the swordsman mech jumped back while placing its sword in between as protection.

Clang!! The metallic sound reverberated as the swordsman mech was pushed back from the force from its opponent. It staggered, as its mech pilot struggled to prevent it from falling to the ground, which would spell definite doom to it.

Bam!! Bam!! The advantage of still having a teammate showed itself, as the rifleman mech released a huge rain of shots at the pursuing lancer mech. The lancer mech tried to persevere under the shots, but the swordsman mech already recovered as it engaged it again.

…

Electric sparks flickered in the heavily damaged mech, as it fell motionless due to excessive damage. Even though his teammate was eliminated early, the mech pilot of the lancer mech persevered as he dragged the battle for over an hour before his mech finally succumbed.

The swordsman mech didn’t leave it be, as its sword stabbed at the cockpit of the heavily damaged lancer mech.

Ding!! The notification sound for an eliminated mech sounded again, as the winner of this contest was finally decided. The whalers emerged as the winner, but the lancer mech still gave both mech pilots of the whalers a run for their money.

Clark finally exhaled in excitement, as he turned to look at his teammates. All their faces were flushed with a little sweat, as their blood pressure and heartbeat were high throughout the last hour.

The loud cheers and shouts from the spectators covered the whole stadium, as the outcome of the contest excited everyone who watched it. They came for excitement, and it was presented to them in its raw form. They were grateful.

Watching such huge machines of destruction brawl in a battle, was so impactful and nerve-wracking. Clark was not sure, but he thought he was beginning to crave excitement recently.

“Is that why it’s said that soldiers can’t live without war?” He could not help but soliloquize after the battle.

“Let’s have a virtual mech battle ourselves?” Mark suddenly suggested.

“What…, you mean? No…, it’s expensive to play it,” Clark turned it down immediately in a reluctant tone.

He wanted to pilot it, but he also did not want to lose money for something that will grant him an excitement for only a short while. He was not a drug addict. He refused, but was he the decision maker here? NO.

“We’re going, I want to experience piloting this thing myself,” Arthur spoke with a deep voice. This sealed it all, as they paid and fought virtual mech battles for the rest of the day.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. Here's another milestone for us, we finally reached the 100 chapter range. Thanks to you all for reading and supporting my book.]